Occupy Vancouver protesters say a young woman’s death at the Vancouver Art Gallery site shouldn’t be cause to force the closure of the three-week-long encampment.

Ashlie Gough, 23, of Victoria was found dead in her tent at 4:40 p.m. Saturday. A cause of death has not been identified, though protesters said it was a drug overdose.

In a news conference at Vancouver City Hall on Sunday, city manager Penny Ballem said staff have become increasingly concerned about “life safety hazards” due to the dozens of tents that litter the art gallery lawn.

“We have to find a peaceful resolution to end the encampment on this site, and to find a way to allow Occupy Vancouver to continue to protest peacefully, without putting people at risk,” she said.

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Fire hazards such as tarps, closely-positioned tents and piles of personal belongings as well as evidence of propane and other flammables are among the city’s concerns, Mayor Gregor Robertson said.

“The Occupy Vancouver protest can continue. The tent encampment, as it stands now, cannot,” he said.

On Saturday night, Robertson said there is no set timeline in dismantling the encampment, but something needs to be done.

“This is the second critical incident in the last two days,” Robertson said over catcalls from occupiers, in reference to a man who overdosed on heroin on Thursday.

“There has been progress made over the last day-and-a-half, but not enough,” he said.

But protesters said Sunday the mayor and public wouldn’t have cared had the woman overdosed in the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside. They say part of the protest is to call attention to inadequate support for marginalized people in society, like drug users.

Protester Niko Guerra said the woman and her friends were peaceful and played music most nights.

“They enjoyed having somewhere to stay, as opposed to living on the street,” he said.

Some protesters speaking to media Sunday said they will not leave the site, even if a judge orders them out through an injunction.

“We understand this is an inconvenience for people, but that’s the purpose,” said Claudio Ekdahl, a social services worker, of the Occupy Vancouver movement.

“Among other things, we’re calling attention to the fact that people are dying every day. It’s a reality of day-to-day life in Vancouver.”

Vancouver mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton spoke near Occupy Vancouver Sunday, saying the “terrible tragedy” of the woman’s death underscores the need for the tent to city to go.

“I think people had concerns about this site, but I don’t think anyone expected a death. That’s a horrible thing,” she said.

“What more does it take? We need to get the tents out of here. It’s a pretty interesting protest, but the tents have to go.”

Victoria’s mayor has similarly had enough of the Occupy protest in his city, ordering that the tent city be dismantled by noon Monday.

Mayor Dean Fortin said the encampment has become unsafe and he wants the protesters to leave voluntarily.

“We are not looking for confrontation. We want people to leave on their own accord,” he said Sunday.

Protesters had a mix of reactions to the eviction notices handed out Sunday morning. Robert Barron said he has been involved with Occupy Victoria, but does not camp there. He said he will join other protesters who refuse to leave even if ordered to.

“The City of Victoria is going to be in for a big surprise come Monday afternoon when people realize what’s going on. There’s going to be an overwhelming amount of people that are fully aware of what’s going on, but don’t necessarily have the time to sit here and . . . support the protest 24/7.”

Although Barron was prepared to get arrested, Fortin said no one will be taken into custody.

Bryan Salazir rode his bicycle from Duncan, B.C., to join Occupy Victoria on Oct. 15. He said he will pack up and leave on Monday.

“I’m definitely going to comply because I don’t have a criminal record,” he said. “I’m not a troublemaker.”

The city has plans to put an ice rink in the square, which will coincide with the tree-lighting and Santa Claus parade on Nov. 26. Fortin said he no longer thinks the family-focused Christmas activities can be successful as long as there’s a tent city in the square.

In the past week, Victoria emergency crews had to respond to a small fire in a tent and a non-fatal overdose.

Fortin said it is important to deal with the situation before someone dies.

In Calgary, while bylaw and police officers have let campers’ tents stay in Olympic Plaza for three weeks, a counter-protester and his pickup truck lasted mere hours there Sunday getting ticketed and towed.

Cory Morgan has led a petition urging city council to remove the Occupy Calgary group’s tents from the public plaza, and on Sunday he erected sarcastic signs to the back of his pickup, to mock the “Occupiers.”

He had been idling his car for about half an hour when bylaw officials threatened to ticket him for being parked illegally. Police joined the fray, threatening to tow his truck if he doesn’t move.

Morgan initially refused to leave his truck, trying to draw a parallel to the insistence of the campers to stay put.

Within three hours of arriving, he got a $200 ticket for operating a vehicle in a park, and his protest pickup was on a tow truck’s flatbed.

“It’s amazing. I’ve accomplished in half an hour what the people in the tents couldn’t in three weeks,” he said.

Although he has been needling them on Twitter and blogs throughout the loosely associated protesters’ three-week stay downtown, Morgan won sympathy from an Occupy spokesman, who argued he should be able to stay.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and city officials said last week that charter rights prevent them from forcing the tenters out of the plaza, even if they are violating the bylaw that prohibits camping.

The faction of Occupy Calgary set up on St. Patrick’s Island has said they would be gone by Monday after the largely homeless group negotiated a settlement with the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

Occupy Saskatoon has also agreed to break camp as the temperatures plunged below zero.

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